China's LED plant lighting is undergoing a difficult start-up period

In recent years, LED lighting products that promote plant growth have attracted attention. These led bio-lighting products are known as plant factories. According to industry analysts, in 2013, the global plant factory led lamps output value of up to 1.2 billion US dollars, an increase of 27% compared with 2012. Moreover, led bio-lighting is also playing a role in livestock and poultry and aquaculture, plant tissue culture, edible fungus cultivation, lure fishing lights and trap light applications. Liu Wenke, a researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Environment and Sustainable Development of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, believes that for modern agriculture, the demand for artificial light illumination is necessary and urgent. Wang Junxi, deputy director of the Semiconductor Lighting R&D Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and deputy secretary-general of the National Semiconductor Lighting Engineering R&D and Industry Alliance, emphasized that LED is a solid-state cold light source with high purity, high luminous efficiency, rich wavelength, light intensity and light quality. Convenient modulation, as well as energy saving, environmental protection, long life and other advantages, is the best source of light control for agricultural production. However, led bio-lighting is experiencing a difficult start in China. The pressureful start-up period compared with traditional plant lights, led plant lighting has obvious advantages of energy saving and efficiency. International LED manufacturers such as Philips, Mitsubishi Chemical, Seoul Semiconductor, Taiwan Everlight, Showa Denko, and Japan Pot Qing have invested in bio-lighting, which has led to a rapid growth in industrial development. Liu Wenke provided a data. From the perspective of the global market, preliminary statistics show that the led bio-lighting market has reached 10 million US dollars in 2013. It is expected to exceed US$35 million in 2014 and reach US$300 million in 2017. At present, led bio-lighting applications are concentrated in countries and regions where agricultural land resources are scarce or engaged in less agricultural personnel. Japan, South Korea, the United States, Europe and other places are the main sales markets for led bio-lighting. In China, facilities such as horticulture, recirculating aquaculture, offshore fishing, plant protection, urban agriculture, and family agriculture all have urgent needs for LED semiconductor lighting, showing a momentum of comprehensive development. The application prospect of modern agricultural lighting is very broad. It is estimated that its industrial scale is over 100 billion yuan, and it is expected that there will be greater development in the next 5 to 10 years. Liu Wenke has high hopes for led bio-lighting. However, CCID Consulting analyst Yan Shuai pointed out that from the perspective of industry scale, led bio-lighting applications are in their infancy. At present, there are not many manufacturers of LED plant lights in China, mainly small and medium-sized enterprises, mainly distributed in Shenzhen, Dongguan and other places. The products are mainly exported, and most of them have not formed sales scale. Moreover, the price of led bio-lights is slightly higher than other light sources, and the application of led bio-lighting is relatively large in the early stage, and it cannot compete with other light sources. According to industry sources, the development of relevant technical standards during the initial period has not been followed up, and the user's usage habits have not been cultivated. The most important thing is that the LED bio-lighting technology is still immature and the production cost is too high. Zhang Hongbiao said. Technology and concept to be followed up by Song Changbin, senior engineer of the Semiconductor Lighting R&D Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Although the current agricultural lighting occupies the main component of led bio-lighting, the research of led light source in the agricultural field is still in its infancy and lacks systematic research. It is reported that led agricultural lighting system is mostly small and medium power, mainly used in the cultivation of seedlings in the horticultural group. High-power light sources require modules such as heat dissipation, and the comprehensive cost is high. In addition, according to Zhang Hongbiao, as international giant chip manufacturers are superior to domestic manufacturers in terms of luminous efficiency and reliability, China's LED bio-illumination product chips still rely mainly on imports. Song Changbin analyzed that the domestic semiconductor chip epitaxial wafer industry started late, accumulated less experience, and subject to patent issues. A large number of core patents are in the hands of early leading companies such as Japan's Nichia and American Corey. The domestic patented strength of LED companies in the field of chip extension is relatively weak, and it has become the bottleneck for the development of the domestic LED epitaxial chip industry. Corresponding to the immature technology, the current domestic manufacturers of plant growth lighting fixtures are small in scale and small in number, and most of them are scattered in the manufacture of functional lighting manufacturers. Therefore, the main peak of 660 nm red chip required for agriculture is not formed. Scale, domestic chip epitaxial wafer manufacturers are reluctant to invest in manpower and material resources to develop agricultural red light chips.